Winona Ryder hints about involvement with ‘Beetlejuice 2’

A follow-up to the cult 1988 fantasy movie was green-lighted earlier this month

Winona Ryder has hinted that she could be taking part in Beetlejuice 2.

A slow-moving sequel has been in the works at Warner Bros since September 2011 and it was recently reported that Tim Burton is now “officially in talks” to direct it.

Now Ryder has spoken out about the follow-up to the cult 1988 movie, but has said she is “kind of sworn to secrecy”. The Daily Beast reports that Ryder added: “But it sounds like it might be happening.”

Of the mooted sequel she continued: “It’s a very precious movie to people, so there are a lot people like, ‘don’t'”. But, she explained: “It’s not a remake. It’s 27 years later. And I have to say, I love Lydia [Deetz, Ryder’s character] so much. She was such a huge part of me. I would be really interested in what she is doing 27 years later.”

Asked by TMZ earlier this month whether Beetlejuice 2 has a green light and is “a go”, Keaton replied: “Yeah, that’s what they’re telling me.” Burton directed the 1988 original, which starred Keaton as a so-called “bio-exorcist” trying to scare away the new human inhabitants of a haunted house so that a ghost couple, played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, can continue living there. Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Jones and a 17-year-old Winona Ryder co-starred as the human family members.

The sequel has a script by Seth Grahame-Smith, who also co-wrote the screenplay for Burton’s 2012 film Dark Shadows. Speaking back in May 2012, Grahame Smith said the new Beetlejuice movie would not be a “remake” or “reboot”, but “a true sequel with Michael Keaton as the title character”.